Train Trestle Fire West of New Orleans Disrupts Amtrak

A train trestle fire west of New Orleans is disrupting Amtrak passenger train service.

CN Railway spokesman Patrick Waldron said Saturday that rail workers were on the bridge across the Bonnet Carre  Spillway on Saturday morning when the blaze began. The cause is undetermined.

Billowing smoke attracted widespread attention because the rail bridge parallels Interstate 10 west of New Orleans.

Crews from the railway, St. Charles Parish and St. John Parish were trying to extinguish the blaze. Waldron says the bridge is closed. It typically carries four to eight freight trains a day, plus one passenger train in each direction.

Amtrak online information says its City of New Orleans train has been disrupted. A passenger tells WWL-TV that train service Saturday will terminate in Jackson, Mississippi.